• Hello Oakley! Greetings in the name of Jesus Christ! My name is Rev. Jordan Durham, and it is my unique privilege and honor to have been appointed to serve as your pastor! I am so excited to be serving alongside you, and I cannot wait to see what God is doing with you in your ministry here, and how I can help you be the best United Methodist Church that you can be. I've been asked to tell a little about myself, so that you don't have a total stranger turning up in your sanctuary, so let's get rolling!

• I embrace the work and calling of a pastor, in the preaching of the Word, serving those in need, helping to guide the life of the local church, and in my deep love for the celebration of our holy sacraments.

• Some of my particular giftings are in relational ministry, worship planning, preaching, and in training others as they explore spiritual practices of the Church.
   

PASSIONS IN MINISTRY

Proper & excellent worship
I believe wholeheartedly that we must participate in worship together not only properly (that is to say, in keeping with our unique UM tradition & doctrine) but also  with excellence, doing the best we possibly can with the gifts, talents, and unique contexts which God has given us.

Relational Evangelism & Outreach
It is my experience that in this current generation and the ones coming after it, in which personal identity is often more important than collective identity, relationship is more and more important. That is why I love to spend time in public spaces, meeting people where they are in all dimensions of life.

Spiritual Discipline
The ongoing crisis of the Church globally is that more and more people are turning from religious affiliation to secularism and humanism. I believe that a reclaiming of our practice of the spiritual disciplines will help people return to a personal and communal experience of the Living God. It is important to note that the acts themselves do not transform us, but the intentional time with God provides a setting in which we stay ready to receive God's grace. Through engaging in these practices, we not only learn more about God and ourselves; we spend rich time in his holy presence, being transformed by his sanctifying grace.

Team Ministry

The Church doesn’t exist one person at a time, rather it only exists in community and in co-working. Team ministry allows us to weave together the strengths and repair and recover the weaknesses of each person involved in the work of ministry.

I prefer to lead alongside my co-workers in Christ--after all, we are both following the same leader. In teams,  we can envision the future like the Apostles, supporting one another in the Gospel; we can work toward the church's specific needs, like St. Francis and his companions;  we can reform our weaknesses and catch the spark of God's new movements, like the Wesley brothers.

PERSONAL LIFE, FAMILY, & HOBBIES

Talking about myself has always been a hard time for me, but here we go! I'm the second of five kids (one older brother, one younger brother, and two younger sisters), earned a Bachelor of Arts in Bible & Religion at Erskine College in Due West, SC, quickly followed by my studies in the Master of Divinity program at Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, KY. Soon after finishing those degrees, I was licensed in the WNC Annual Conference of the UMC and began to serve as a licensed local  pastor. I've done a few things on and off outside of the pastoral ministry--I've been a locksmith, a martial art instructor, an actor, and a few other little things along the way, but this is where I have been called.

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